Thiripyitsaya Sakura Bagan

... I guess the name makes sense! Under the careful guide of Ian our British pilot we slowly lifted off and waved goodbye to the 50+ local crew that the company employs.<br><br>For the first 20 minutes or so we glided at about 50 Ft and at a speed of 2 knots over the central plain of the Bagan temples passing my favourite from sunset the night before, Pyathada. We then put the burners on hard and climbed to near 2000 Ft.<br><br>The view all the ...

... with a haversack as a body silhouetted by the bus headlights and I can't blame her...We got back to Yangon in the early hours of the morning and checked in to Okinawa again. . Tea, of course, had to be consumed in a teashop (where else?) and I am justly proud of my record of visiting a country and not having a beer. It's a first and a last. Beer costs about 1,500 - 2,000 Kyat. We met a guy in ...

... a great help for filling in some of the blanks. Another great breakfast, not sure when I will have another one so good, so I stuffed myself! Ape Ua Da Na Temple (Abeyadana Pahto) is an 11th century Temple with Sinhalese-style stupa built by Kyanzittha's Bengali wife, Abeyadana. She waited for him in this place, he was hiding from his predecessor King Sawlu. The frescos are beautiful and have been restored by Unesco. They are of ...

... it would be too dirty and there would be a greater risk of being attacked by a snake. After some time I was convinced to go ashore. The sand was more comfortable and was not too dirty. Besides, the coach roaches the size of large beetles were starting to come out of the woodwork (literally, one was in the toilet with me). Some of the guys started a fire, the boat crew helped to provide some wood. We all sat around the fire for a while and chatted. We ...

... and had exchanged t* rec*unt, and w**e alm*st finished, when we w**e pr*dded d*wnstairs int* the "c**l**" fan equipped *ffice, t* finish *ur c*unting in m*re c*mf*rt. Jesse was n*t happy with this, but we w**e practically pushed d*wn the stairs and int* their "*ffice" t* rec*unt, and I th*ught, hell... it gives us a chance t* th*r*ughly rec*unt the m*ney in saf** c*nfines. S* the c*unt started all *v** again. I watched as a deal** c*unted *ut the kyat in tens, and handed it ...

... Thande is set right on the banks of the Irrawaddy and our corner units at the very edge of the hotel offered unbelievable views from the porch tch, or better yet from t he air conditioned comfort though the giant window ws. Although not quite up to the ambiance of Inle Resort, this was amazing setting and a great place to hide out from the sea ring heat. It was almost a private hotel, with only a few other guests, so few that they weren't even serving dinner., which required us to ...

... didn't want to stay in; then we finally ended up in a little family run guesthouse which could have us. The couple that ran the place were incredibly friendly, but honestly the place was an absolute dump. To illustrate - they hadn't had electricity in over a week, and in order to flush the toilet you needed the water pump to be working which, of course, runs on electricity. So, our toilet was rather full of a week's worth of ...

There's two types of boats doing the route from Mandalay to Bagan along the Irawaddy River: the fast and the slow boat. According to Chris, a German bloke, we'd hooked up with in Nyaugschwe, the fast boat was no longer running, but this turned out to be dudd info. Now you're going to have to weigh up the cons of leaving at 7:00 AM (fast), rather than 5:30 AM (slow), arriving at 17:30 (fast), rather than than 22:30 ...

... someday, look for pieces of petrified wood along the roadways. I didn't read about that until we'd left. Salay is a small town with a big soul - or at least 50 or so active monasteries. We concentrated on a lovely teak one dating from the 1880's with renovations within the last fifteen years to protect the intricate wooden carvings. Inside are several museum pieces from the 17th and 18th centuries. The town is also known for its ...